After being charged with a DUI offense in California, you need an experienced DUI attorney who can aggressively fight for your rights. San Diego DUI Attorney has earned a reputation for being one of the leading DUI defense firms in Live Oak Springs. A Live Oak Springs DUI attorney from our office can represent you and fight for your best interests to ensure your rights are protected throughout the case. Some sources could lead you to assume that DUI is no big deal. People often assume that DUI is nothing more than a traffic ticket, which is easy to dismiss. This assumption is far from the truth. You need to take a DUI charge seriously, and it is for your best interest that you seek professional legal representation.

Services We Offer

After a DUI arrest, you have many options, and there are many possible defenses for your case. We have represented numerous clients in handling DUI cases. We will bring our vast experience and our familiarity and understanding of the justice system in California to your DUI case.

As we handle your DUI case, we will have several primary goals. Our first goal will be to help you retain your driver’s license. We will also do our best to ensure that we keep you out of jail. We will come up with the best strategies for mitigating the most serious consequences that could arise from your case. Our Services include:

Guiding You Through the Legal System

We will assign a DUI attorney to handle your case and guide you through the legal process. For instance, we will help you secure a DMV hearing within ten days of your DUI arrest. Our Live Oak Springs DUI attorney will proceed to attend and represent you at the hearing. If your case proceeds to trial, our attorney will represent you in court and negotiate with the prosecution and the judge for you.

A Defense Based on the Fourth Amendment

When exploring the best defense for your DUI charge, we will determine whether the law enforcement officers violated your Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S constitution prohibits subjecting a person to an unreasonable or illegal search and seizure. We will explore whether the arresting officer had a valid ground for stopping your vehicle prior to the DUI arrest. We will also consider whether the officer informed you about your rights before conducting DUI testing. The law regarding illegal search and seizure is intricate. If we establish that the officers violated your constitutional rights, it could lead to dismissal of your charges.

Investigating the Breathalyzer Test Results

At the time of your DUI arrest, you may have undergone different tests to determine intoxication. You probably underwent a pre-arrest breath test, commonly known as the Preliminary Alcohol Screening Test (PAS). You could also have undergone either a DUI breath test or a DUI blood test. We will not adopt the blood alcohol content results the police will present. We often investigate the DUI testing process to ensure that the testing personnel adhered to all the requirements.

First, we will consider the condition of the breathalyzer equipment at the time of DUI testing. The breathalyzer should have been well–maintained and calibrated. The testing officer must have possessed all the necessary qualifications. If we find out that there were some omissions or mistakes concerning adhering to these standards, it means that the results are incorrect. The prosecutor and the court should not hold you liable based on incorrect DUI test results.

Weighing Circumstantial Evidence

Sometimes, the law enforcement officers may have determined that your intoxication level was above the legal limit. However, the officers may not have seen you operating a vehicle. In this instance, we will express reasonable doubt regarding whether your BAC was above 0.08% at the time you were operating the vehicle.

Developing Field Sobriety Tests Defenses

The California Highway Patrol manual outlines how an officer should administer field sobriety tests to determine intoxication. If the arresting officer did not comply with the FSTs requirements, the results of the tests are not valid. We will carefully analyze the administration of the field sobriety tests and the results of the test. We will look into non-alcohol-related factors that may have influenced the outcome of the FSTs. Based on our findings, we will come up with a good defense for your case.

Why You Should Hire Us

With so many DUI firms available to choose from, why should you choose to work with us? Certain factors differentiate us from other law firms and make us the best. These factors include:

Vast Experience You Can Trust

We have many years of experience in DUI defense practice. We have handled thousands of DUI cases in the course of our practice. Our attorneys understand California DUI laws and the loopholes they can use to your advantage. With the experience we possess, you will get great results for your DUI case. Our attorneys have represented countless clients in DMV hearings and recorded many DMV hearings wins. Our attorneys have recorded many wins in DUI cases, including dismissal of DUI charges, plea bargains, and alternative sentencing.

Well-Trained and Competent Attorneys

Our attorneys are not just experienced, but they also possess impeccable academic qualifications and certifications. All our attorneys understand the California legal system. The combination of excellent academic backgrounds and the experience of our attorneys is a guarantee of a great outcome of your DUI case.

Personalized Attention

We assign an attorney to every client to ensure that our clients get personalized attention from our attorneys. We are always available, and you can access an immediate consultation whenever you need to. Our attorneys are always willing to provide prompt case reviews. We understand that timely responses to DUI cases could make a great difference. You can access your attorney on the phone, and this makes it easy to ask any questions and seek clarifications. Our Live Oak Springs DUI attorney will give undivided attention to your case by taking responsibility for the results and providing aggressive legal representation. You can always relax, knowing that your DUI case is in the best hands.

Excellent DUI Defense Strategies

We employ a wide range of defense strategies, including the No Driving defense, the rising blood level defense, and the illegal stop or arrest defense. We also investigate and attack the results of a DUI breath or blood test. Our attorneys will work tirelessly to develop the best strategies that will work for your DUI case.

Friendly Staff

All our staff, including our attorneys, are friendly, and this makes it easy to approach and interact with them. Our attorneys are not here to judge you but to understand and help you. Even if the evidence against you seems insurmountable, you should never plead guilty to a DUI offense. Our attorneys are always willing to listen to the facts of your case. After analyzing the case, the attorneys give an opinion regarding the strength or the weakness of your case.

Affordable Services

Despite being good at what we do and offering excellent outcomes for DUI cases, we do not overcharge our services. Our rates are reasonable, and you will not have to strain your finances to seek legal representation for your DUI case. Based on the services we offer, you will get good value for your money.

How We Handle Cases

We will start working on your DUI case immediately you contact us after a DUI arrest:

The DMV Process

After arresting you for driving while intoxicated, the police will confiscate your driver's license and send it to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. We will request a DMV hearing for you because this may delay the suspension of your driver's license. We ensure that you adhere to the DMV deadlines. You can only request a hearing within ten days from the time of your arrest.

Our attorneys have participated and prevailed in numerous DMV hearings. At the hearing, the DMV officer will be interested in finding out three things. The officer will seek to find out whether your DUI arrest was lawful. He/she will also seek clarification to know whether your BAC level was above the legal limit. The officer will also seek to know whether the arresting officer had a probable cause or a valid justification for making the DUI arrest.

Even if the outcome of the DMV hearing is irrelevant to the DUI court process, it helps to have an attorney at the hearing. Our attorney can minimize the chances of the suspension of your driver’s license.

The Court Process

The court process of your DUI case will begin after the DMV process. Our attorney will be present in court alongside the prosecutor, the judge, and in some cases, the jury. The court process often starts with the arraignment and ends with your acquittal or sentencing. During the arraignment period, you will have a chance to plead guilty or not guilty to the DUI charges. Our attorney will advise you on the best move to make upon analyzing your case.

The arraignment will also give the prosecutor a chance to provide you with a plea bargain offer. If our Live Oak Springs DUI attorney advises you not to plead guilty, he/she will devote ample time to investigate and identify weaknesses in the prosecutor's evidence against you. The attorney will request all evidence against you, including the evidence obtained at the time of your arrest. If the attorney advises you to accept a plea bargain and plead guilty, this will mark the end of your DUI case. However, you would still have to comply with the probation requirements put in place by the court.

Pretrial Motions

After investigating every aspect of your DUI case, the attorney may decide to file a motion in court. The attorney will negotiate with the judge and the prosecutor for mitigation or a drop in your charges. In most cases, the prosecutor may be quick to point out that he/she already gave you the best offer of plea bargain during the arraignment stage. However, our attorneys are experienced, and they understand this trick all too well.

Your attorney might request a pretrial motion to help the court decide on specific issues of your case before your case proceeds to trial. Depending on the type of pretrial motion, the motion can alter many areas of your DUI case, including the evidence, the testimonies, and the overall court atmosphere.

One of the strategies that our attorneys use is filing a motion to suppress evidence. By filing this motion, the attorney may request the court to dismiss all the evidence presented against you. The attorney might argue that the evidence is invalid, and the introduction of the evidence in your case would affect you negatively.

Our attorney might also request a Pitchess hearing. This will allow the attorney to look into the arresting officer's past. If the attorney discovers previous complaints against the arresting officer, it may help in questioning the evidence the officer presents against you.

It is also common for our DUI attorneys to request for probable cause hearings. These hearings allow the attorneys to look into the initial traffic stop the arresting officer makes. The attorney can decide whether to challenge the lawfulness of the traffic stop or not.

DUI Jury Trials

Many DUI cases in California do not reach this stage. However, if your case reaches the jury trial stage, you can expect our DUI attorney to be right there with you. The prosecutor will have a hard burden of proof to convince the jury that you are guilty of the DUI offense. Our DUI attorney will be engaged in challenging the prosecutor’s evidence and proving why you are not guilty of the said charges.

Your Role as the Perpetrator of the Crime

As the perpetrator of the DUI offense, you also have a role to play. For instance, the steps you take after a DUI arrest will go a long way in determining the outcome of your case:

Limit Conversation With the Police

Immediately after stopping your vehicle on suspicions of DUI, the officer will approach you and initiate a conversation with you. You may not know it, but as you converse with the officer, the officer will be looking out for signs of intoxication and gathering evidence against you. For instance, an odor of alcohol from your mouth or an uncoordinated speech would serve as evidence of intoxication. It may not be possible to refrain from talking to the officer entirely. However, it is advisable to ensure that you only speak when necessary and avoid too much talking.

You Do Not Have to Submit to Field Sobriety Tests

After talking to you and suspecting that you are intoxicated, the police might recommend that you submit to field sobriety tests. It is important to note that field sobriety tests are voluntary and you are under no obligation to submit to them. The tests are subjective, and most people do not prevail in the tests. Participating in the FSTs might only provide the arresting officers with more evidence that you are intoxicated. Many DUI attorneys often attest to the fact that it is much easier to fight a DUI charge if the defendant did not submit to FSTs. You will not face additional charges for failing to submit to FSTs or a PAS test.

Submit to Mandatory DUI Chemical Tests

It is imperative to note that DUI chemical tests are mandatory in California, unlike the PAS test and the FSTs. Therefore, you should never refuse to submit to a DUI chemical test because this may escalate your DUI charges. The typical chemical DUI tests are the DUI breath test and the DUI blood test. According to the implied consent laws in California, every driver agrees to DUI testing upon acquiring a driver's license in California. Refusing to submit to a DUI test may lead to instant suspension of your driver’s license.

Contact Your DUI Attorney Immediately

You have the role of contacting a DUI attorney immediately after a DUI attorney. The longer you stay without contacting an attorney, the higher the chances of losing in your DUI case. The arresting officer has to inform you of your right to an attorney. Therefore, contact an attorney immediately if you are arrested for DUI. Your Live Oak Springs DUI attorney will have ample time to work on your case from the start.

Do Not Plead Guilty

You should never plead guilty to a DUI offense, no matter how convincing the evidence against you seems. There are many ways of beating a DUI charge even if you recorded a BAC of above the legal limit of 0.08%. With an experienced DUI attorney by your side, you might have your DUI charges dismissed or reduced to a lesser charge. You should only plead guilty for DUI if your attorney advises you to and considers it a good strategy for your case.

Contact a San Diego DUI Attorney Near You

At San Diego DUI Attorney, we have helped thousands of clients handle their DUI cases. No matter the circumstance of your case, you can count on us to seek the best outcome for your case. Reach us at 619-535-7150 and talk to an experienced Live Oak Springs DUI attorney today.